Dowling High School Class of 1974

Do you remember Sister Rosemary?  Remember how OLD she was?  Did any of us have GRANDPARENTS that old?  She was still working -- teaching at Dowling.  She was our link to history.

Sister Rosemary Shea

Well, GUESS WHAT!!

Sister Rosemary passed on a few years back.  I read the obituary and did the math.

And you know what?  When we were at Dowling, ancient old Sister Rosemary was in her mid 40s!!  For those of you who didn't excel at math, what that means is that ancient old Sister Rosemary was about TWENTY YEARS YOUNGER THAN WE ARE NOW!!

OUCH!!

I kind of knew that already.  I was playing in a country bar in November, 1976 down in Redding, Iowa.  That afternoon, the state football championship was being played and Dowling was competing for its 20th consecutive second-place finish.  Two middle-aged women sat down at the table next to me as I watched the game on television.

Why are you interested in THIS game, I asked them.

One of them told me that her sister teaches at Dowling. The other explained that the teacher is her daughter.

Who's your daughter?

Sister Rosemary Shea.

Noooooo. . .

Scales fell from my eyes.  Sister Rosemary had a LIVING MOTHER, who was able to walk on her own and appeared to have all her teeth.  The news sent shock waves to the core of everything I thought I understood.

If it makes you feel any better, I think we're still younger than Prof Landry EVER was.